Bad news from the sweep -options and recommendations please"

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Chumbley

New Member
Sep 29, 2011
4
Eastern PA
We recently purchased a late 1980's home with a lovely stone front masonry fireplace that is 35" wide and 29" tall opening. The chimney is outside wall brick with terra cotta flue. The chimney has three flues, one for the fireplace, one for the fuel oil furnace, and a dummy. The chimney has never been capped. The chimney is exposed three sides and is 7' x 4' x 32' high.

Before using anything, we had a sweep come clean and inspect. Bad news. The crown is cracked, the tiles are pitted and flaking, and there are missing grout joints. He recommended DO NOT BURN. Great!

Options he provided are

1- put in a gas insert with sleeve for the fp and sleeve the furnace and repair the crown (not priced as we aren't interested in gas)
2- repair with pour in flue liner (supaflue) and replace the crown (est. 5k to 10k)
3- put in wood stove insert with stainless liner ($4000) and sleeve the furnace ($1500) and repair the crown ($500)

We know that the stove is the best efficiency option. The current fireplace has no doors or anything, so that would have been an eventual expense to help limit heat loss. But we really were looking forward to a big blazing fire, which we won't get with a stove or gas insert. We are planning to convert the fuel oil furnace to propane direct vent, so we don't care about that flue.

Is the wood insert our best option? Are there other options to repair the flue? The sweep told us he does not recommend stainless liners with a masonry firebox.

Help make us ok with a wood stove insert, or give us other options...

Thanks!
 
Personally, I would go with option 3 for efficiency reasons. They also make some really nice inserts with very large glass fronts so you can see the blazing fire. I'd be skeptical about repairing the existing flue - with the sleeve, you know you're good - safety wise.
 
All of your replies in the hearth room are going to be for option #3, and truthfully if a blazing fire is what you want a wood insert is defintely for you. Fires burn much hotter and can put on a much better show in a wood stove than an open fireplace anyways.
 
I'd vote for option 3, but you pose this question to a forum full of wood burning nuts. It probably is your most cost effective option if you want to burn wood, plus you'll have the benefit of an efficient heat source. There are a number of attractive inserts that provide a nice flame show, plus you get to stand in front of it and warm your backside ;-).

I'm actually in the middle of demolishing my chimney and fireplace to make room for a new stove. The chimney was in the same condition as yours. I considered an insert and liner, but I got a really good deal on the stove. And the chimney is not in the best location in relation to a roof valley and had been a source of leakage in the past, and last winter I had some ice damming issues.

Look around, ask questions, find something you like. Some more information would help, too. Like where you live, how big your house is and an idea of what the floorplan is like.

Welcome.
 
I'm voting for option 3 as well. A big blazing fire looks cool, great ambiance, etc., but once you have an insert with some actual heat keeping you toasty and your heating bills are reduced you're gonna LOVE it!

Another option would be to put a free standing wood stove in front of the existing fireplace - if you search the forum a lot of people have done this - and you will likely have even more heat in your living space.
 
I like option 3 also.

I'm having an insert and liner installed in my open fireplace in the next few weeks. I've lived in my house for 10 years. While we enjoyed the open fireplace, it never really heated the room. On a really cold day, I could hear my hot water heat registers warming up while the fire burned. It made me crazy.

We were also concerned about losing the "ambiance" of having an open fireplace. Of course, an insert is more contained than an open fireplace. So we went with a stove with a nice open bay window design to get the best view of the fire that we can.

We chose the Osburn 2200:

2200eb.jpg



My wife has been a little reluctant about this purchase, but I'm assuring her that 1. We will actually be able to heat a good portion of the house with wood I scrounge from our property; 2. We will be able to relax for several hours after the stove is filled--our old fireplace gobbled wood like crazy, and I felt like I was constantly feeding and stoking it to keep the fire blazing, and; 3. We will save money on our gas bill.


So....that's my reasoning. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Greg
 
3 like everyone else.

Some of the wood stove manufacturers build larger stoves with a wide "bay window" type door that I think would achieve the effect you are looking for - Lopi and Quadrafire come to mind. I suggest you go to a few of your local stove shops and look around, get some quotes on the stove including install and an insulated liner. You can save yourself a bit of money by buying the stove and liner direct and doing the liner and install yourself if that's your thing, but in Eastern PA, you should be able to get a full install for under, or at least the low end, of that $5-10k quote.

Mike.R
 
idea 1 - install the liner yourself and connect it to a free standing stove in the hearth.

idea 2 - see what it would cost to put a free standing stove elsewhere in the house with it's own separate flue.
 
You can get a stove and liner installed for under 4k
Check Craigslist you can get stove and liner...
you can also... Get a stove have liner put in... Then in a couple years get a stove you really want
 
gd9704 said:
We chose the Osburn 2200:
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention the Osburn 2200 along with the stoves that have bay windows. Looks like a great stove, good luck with it. I was looking at that one, but ended up going with the 2400 for the monster firebox. Now I just have to learn how to burn :)
 
Got the Osburn 2200 insert last year. I'd say it's one of the best views of a fire offered by a stove/insert given the bay window (though I think a few percentage points of efficiency are lost due to the extra glass). That said, it is not the same view offered by a fireplace. Not sure how it compares to others but, the Osburn firebox is short (9-10 inches tall) and deep (~18-20) so a lot of fire burns in the back which can't really be seen from eye level unless the stove is raised off the floor. Still, it's great. I dropped an insulated liner down my terracotta lined chimney and the BTUs are pumping.
 
Get an insert. My heat used to run all the time when I used the fireplace. The upstairs would actually get colder! Yes, I sometimes miss the ambiance of an open fire, but that is more than offset by having a fire every day, not just on special occasions or weekends, and actually heating the house with it.
 
My vote is option #3, Big insert! Trust me you will get much more heat out of it and be able to enjoy the secondary light show.
 
OK, I'm convinced we're on the right track with the insert - thanks guys.

We are currently focused on the Regency / Hampton HI300. Any comments on that product, or others that might have a "bigger view"?

The dealer has quoted $4500 installed for the unit (with blower), flue liner, and crown repair/replacement.

Jeff
 
I'd say option 3 as well... my friend just put in a Jotul C350(pretty sure it is) and I'll tell ya, it does great heating his place and it has improved the way the hearth looks ten fold.
 
Seal the crown and throw a liner and insert in that puppy. Is the crown the same as the chase?
 
I'm going to go against the grain and say option#3....
I was a big blazing fire guy too. Here are before and after pics and you can decide for yourself.
 

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People on this forum that own the Hampton seem to really like them. I was close to purchasing one myself. It was between the Hearthstone Clydesdale, the Hampton, and the Jotul. Wife and I both liked the looks of the Jotul and the size of the firebox, so that's what we went with and have been very happy with our first year under our belts.
Price wise, they were all very close as I recall. We ended up paying $4300 including stove, liner, and installation.

I vote for option 3, I don't think you will regret it. Just be advised that you need the blower on to throw some heat. Blowers make noise, so that's something you will have to live with. We keep ours on about medium to medium high and its never an issue, but some people are a little more noise sensitive.

How about a few pictures? Good luck!

Jocam, Looks great. Would love to have something that nice. We have all brick and its just a little too 1970s for my taste.
To be honest, the before picture doesn't look too bad either.
 
I ran through this thread but did not see about checking it yourself.
I was told by a sweep when ready to install my insert that the chimney cap was in "real bad shape" and could "fall and hurt someone"
and he would repair it for some crazy sum. He also said i did not need a liner cause "thats what the chimney is for"???
Anyways i have a ladder and checked out the chimney cap and it looked as if it were finished yesterday. Not even a small crack in the concrete.
Nothing loose, looked as good as new. Just something to check.
 
Thanks for the suggestion bfunk13 - I will check into that! These guys came pretty highly recommended and seem like straight shooters - but you never know!
 
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